Pak Army complains to UN mission over Jan 6 incident at LoC

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From Yoshita Singh United Nations, Jan 10 (PTI) The UN observer force in Kashmir will probe a Pakistani complaint of alleged ceasefire violation by Indian troops along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir in which it claims a Pakistani soldier was killed. Pakistan has complained to the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) about the January 6 incident in which it claimed that Indian troops "raided" a border post on the Pakistani side of the LoC, the UN mission said in a statement emailed to PTI. India has denied crossing the international border and said that the Pakistan army started firing mortar shells towards its posts with some of the shells landing close to civilian habitation. India has said that Pakistani troops commenced "unprovoked firing on Indian troops" in the early hours of January 6. A civilian house was damaged in the firing and Indian troops then undertook "controlled retaliation" in response. Pakistan has claimed that the incident resulted in the death of a Pakistani soldier and injuries to another. The UNMOGIP said it will soon conduct an investigation into the incident. Two days later on January 8, two Indian soldiers were killed, with the body of one of them mutilated, and two soldiers sustained injuries in an attack by Pakistani soldiers who crossed over to the Indian side of the LoC. "Regarding the 6 January alleged incident, the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan, or UNMOGIP, has received an official complaint from the Pakistan Army and will conduct an investigation as soon as possible in accordance with its mandate," UNMOGIP said in the statement. An UNMOGIP official did not provide further details of the complaint, saying that the mission "is not in position to distribute communications between member states and the UN." The Pakistani mission to the UN did not respond to queries from PTI seeking comment on the complaint to UNMOGIP. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson Martin Nesirky also said in the daily briefing yesterday that the UNMOGIP had received a complaint from the Pakistani army. However, "no official complaint has been received either from the Pakistan Army or Indian Army" regarding the January 8 clash in which two Indian soldiers were killed, the statement said. Pakistan is currently the rotating President of the UN Security Council. UNMOGIP observers have been located at the ceasefire line between India and Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir since 1949 and supervise the ceasefire between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. Currently there are 39 military observers in Kashmir, 25 international civilian personnel and 48 local civilian staff. PTI YAS WAJ AKJ VSC WAJ